Last year was a fantastic year for us here at SHINE. We’d like to take a moment to thank all our supporters, partners, teachers, and project leaders who made it possible for over 23,000 children to have access to SHINE programmes in schools, and a further 100,000 children online.

In 2017 we…

The power of great teaching

At SHINE we’ve always believed in the power of great ideas developed by expert teachers. That’s why each year we run a national competition called Let Teachers SHINE. The competition identifies and supports some of the brightest minds in teaching across the country to develop innovative projects to raise attainment for disadvantaged children.

To date, we have invested in almost 100 teachers through Let Teachers SHINE, and 2017 was our most successful year yet, with more teachers and ideas supported than ever before. Alongside the national competition, we also ran a regional pilot in partnership with the Greater London Authority, to help foster and support innovative practice across the capital.

As well as supporting our teachers to raise attainment, at SHINE we also encourage our teachers to grow their ideas to scale and help them to manage their projects towards an independent future.

To find out more about our most recent Let Teachers SHINE winners, take a look at the projects that won funding in 2017.

Accelerating impact

As well as contributing much-needed cash, SHINE also invests significant time and expertise in helping projects to develop their work and realise their full potential. We employ an expert team of staff who carefully assess proposals, monitor progress and provide incubator style support to fledging ideas and innovations. We also rigorously evaluate all our funded programmes to ensure that we are providing the best possible value for money.

In 2017, for example, we launched a new Accelerator programme, which provides the winners of our Let Teachers SHINE competition with free access to strategic mentoring and coaching to help them to get the best out of their projects. One of our partners for this programme is The Young Foundation, a leading social mobility charity, who are delivering development workshops across topics such as business planning, measuring impact and scaling up.

Getting the best out of the weekend

Our Saturday programmes add another 20% of learning time to the school week, helping to bridge the educational attainment gap for children who need extra support at school.

We supported almost 50 Saturday school programmes last year, which impacted on the lives of more than 2,000 children and young people. Particular highlights from the year include:

• At the Hyde Primary School in London, an incredible 95% of students were supported to make expected progress or better in maths
• 300 children benefitted from our Serious Fun on Saturdays programme, an innovative partnership with the independent sector which helps bright children from low income homes experience first class educational facilities and teaching over the weekend
• At Bolton independent school, 83% of parents agreed that SHINE had had a positive impact on their child’s attainment at primary school
• At Holy Family secondary school in Waltham Forest, 100% of students were supported to make expected progress or better in maths and 99% achieved this in English, despite a number of children having very low starting points.

We are incredibly proud to have supported over 120 Saturday programmes to date, helping to create a brighter future for thousands of disadvantaged children across London and beyond. As we develop our new priorities for SHINE’s future focus in the North, we will be providing expert help and support for our current school partners, so that the impact of this work can continue on into the future.

Working in partnership

SHINE has always believed in partnering with others who share our aims and objectives to maximise impact. Our partnerships with like-minded organisations have helped us to take great strides in boosting attainment for children most in need.

Together with the Ogden Trust and the Primary Science Teaching Trust, in 2017 we grew our network of SHINELabs, to help increase educational achievement in primary science in areas of deprivation. We supported 10 primary schools to create bespoke labs and then helped primary teachers to access high quality training to deliver inspiring, engaging science lessons. More than 3,000 children benefited from access to these labs, and a further 170 children gained extra support by attending targeted sessions after school.

At Daubeney Primary School in London, 100% of the students taking part in the SHINELabs after school club met or exceeded their targets in science. Project manager Raj Dharma was also recognised as the Primary Science Teacher of the Year, and the school secured a gold level Primary Science Quality Mark in recognition of their achievements.

We were also delighted to see the SHINE-funded Speech Bubbles project independently endorsed by an external evaluation, which found that children on the programme made accelerated progress in language development. Thanks to several years of funding and support from SHINE, Speech Bubbles have been able access new sources of funding to help their programme continue to scale and develop in future.

Thank you

We’re very grateful to every one of our supporters and project staff that make SHINE programmes possible. Thank you once again for the support you’ve given to make this transformation possible. To stay up to date with the impact SHINE is having on young people’s lives, you can sign up to our newsletter here.

“SHINE has been the most fulfilling experience that I have had as an educator in 30 years of my career.” – SHINE Project Manager